Help! Need advice on best m4/3 prime lenses.

ultilil wrote:

Hi all, I'm hopin for some advice from you!

So I've gotten the prime lens bug. Here's what I've got already:

Camera: Olympus Pen E-P3

Oly 45mm f/1.8

Oly 40-150mm f/4

Oly kit zoom 14-42mm

I feel like I'm pretty satisfied on the upper range but lately I've felt seriously limited on the lower range. This is partly because I hardly ever use the kit zoom unless I have to. I use my iPhone over the kit zoom. It's not that I don't shoot at that range, I just don't like the lens.

So I'm looking for 1-2 more primes lenses to cover all my bases.

I've been using the 45mm for street shooting and portraits and love how fast and sharp it is but ironically its low light performance is lost on many indoor situations where the close quarters call for a much shorter range. I have also been shooting a lot of scenery lately so I would love a super wide lens at some point.

I tend to shoot primarily: portraits, scenery, some indoor (e.g. architecture, gatherings). Here's a link to my flickr page if that helps: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ljampol

Right now my 45mm lives on my camera and I would ideally like something with fast autofocus for a more spur-of-the-moment lens that is versatile in many situations. I don't care too much about size, because I always carey a purse/backpack.

Right now I'm considering these lenses (one immediately and maybe one in several months):

Panny 20mm f/1.7

Panny 25mm f/1.4 (I know this is a popular one but I'm nervous about it still being too long?)

Oly 17mm f/1.7

Oly 12mm f/2

Panny 7-14mm

Oly 9-18mm

Do you have any favorites or advice? I ideally want something to cover mid-range and super-wide, but don't want them to be redundant. Also, price is not a *huge* issue if the lens is totally worth it, but I'm definitely trying to not overspend. I'm also an amateur so I don't have a good idea of what it is like to shoot at wider angles (except the crappy kit lens) or what the possibilities for my work are.

If you could choose 1 now and 1 later, given what my prefs are, what would you choose?

Thanks so much in advance!

I`d say get the 9-18 wide zoom first and see how it goes.

Followed by a prime between 17 and 25mm, you should have added the sigma 19m to your list of options, its dirt cheap but good.